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Previous: Hang On To Those Domain Names The call went something like this: "I represent a network of people who buy product X?" (The caller identified a specific product we sell.) "I can help you," I told the caller. "Good. Are you in front of your computer," the caller asked? "Yes," I answered. "To show you what we're all about," he went on, "I need you to go to our website...." He sent me to a website called SurfSpeak. The caller, we'll call him Mike (not his real name), then told me to look for the big E and click on it. (It was an icon for Internet Explorer.) Then he told me to click again, and when I saw a dialogue box, click OK to install the plug in. "Plug-in?" I asked. "What plug-in? What is this?" Mike did everything he could to avoid answering my question. He said something about his company being the only company of its kind to get certification for an IE plug in. "What is this," I asked again. "Is this some kind of adware?" "No," he said. "It's a browser plug-in." "But what is it used for?" Instead of explaining, Mike said, "Let me connect you with Jim, who can explain everything." (Jim was not his real name). When the call was transferred, Jim picked up the phone and said he'd be happy to answer questions the "fellow" I had just been talking to couldn't answer. (I got strong vibes that Jim didn't know the name of the person who had transferred the call.) When I tried to get Jim to tell me whether SurfSpeak was adware, he wouldn't answer, and when I asked a few other questions, he became sarcastic. "Well you wouldn't be interested anyway," he said. "It costs over a million dollars." I hung up, but I couldn't help wonder how many other people they had tried to trick into installing their browser today, and who else they had completely alienated. In case anyone from the company is reading, if you're a legitimate company and not some boilerroom scam outfit, I'd suggest you quickly get your sales staff some training. And, be sure to remind them that it's not wise to try to trick prospective customers into installing your browser add-in. Posted on August 1, 2005 at 10:25 PM | Comments (7)Comments I received an e-mail from this company, something to the effect of “I can bring thousands of customers to your doorstep”. I responded via e-mail requesting more information. Then the phone calls started. I send another e-mail message telling him to just succinctly explain what he was selling and, if I were interested, I’d call him. Eventually, his e-mails became mean, personal and viscious, using completely inappropriate terms that I will not repeat here. I had my attorney fax a letter to the company describing the situation and threatening to notify numerous agencies of their sales techniques. I never heard from them again. I can only assume that, whether a scam or bad business people, this company is up to no good. Posted by: Kevin on September 14, 2005 at 9:42 PM A guy by the name “Michael Combs” called me, and directed me to his website, exactly as noted above. He said “go ahead, and skip over saving it, and go ahead and click run to install the plugin”. Being in IT, this triggered some flags, and I didnt install. I eventually hung up on the guy. Please beware of Surf Speak. They are up to no good. Thanks, Posted by: D Brown on October 11, 2005 at 12:46 PM be very careful dealing with companies selling keywords. i was not and it has been very costly Posted by: Jason smith on October 27, 2005 at 6:27 AM For what it is worth, we use this company to communicate to our customers as well as assist with lead generation. Results have been fair. Has anyone else here used their VOIP product? - that’s better than Skype any day of the week. I agree with the last post that one should be cautious in doing business with any firm, but it doesn’t look like anyone here on this site did much investigation of what this company does. Posted by: Stan Silverman on November 16, 2005 at 12:07 AM These proffessionals are entitled to there opinion but I have a different outlook on this business.I believe in their voip program and their launch of a voice activated browser.As soon as my website is done I will be using them I am in contact with three firms that give them a fantastic review.They are releasing the first ever voice activated browser for I.E.I beleive this is going to be another bill gates story.There should be a more proffessional approach to the download by one or two inexperienced reps and I am sure they will make the adjustment. I think contempt prior to a thorough investigation might be a bigger crime than bad business etequette. Below is an example of forums against other house hold names: Posted by: evan c. on December 1, 2005 at 5:18 PM I was solicited by them on the phone. They are very good at the smoke and mirrors game. They don’t deliver 1% of the traffic they claim, nor do they respond any longer once the guaranteed refund is requested. We had our own site tracker and compared it to their list. NOT ONE visitor from their extensive list matched up with ours, meaning they not only missed the 10,000 hits in 6 months by a bit, they missed it entirely! Anyone with any luck getting something back from these [deleted]? Posted by: Will Molinoq on February 29, 2008 at 3:05 PM |
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How Not To Develop Business
I just got the same call from SurfSpeak. This guy was irrate that I wouldn’t download this ‘plug-in’. I get calls from these type of people all the time. More often they are to sell me ‘keyword registration’.
Buyer beware!!!
Posted by: Darren on August 26, 2005 at 3:39 PM